Moving from the military to diplomacy — via Northeastern

Michael Trudeau, furthest to the left with his fellow attendees and top dignitaries, was selected to attend the Young Atlanticist Summit last month in Chicago. Courtesy photo.

Michael Trudeau con­ducted deep-​​sea dives as a sonar officer with the U.S. Navy, the longest of which kept him under­water for 57 days. Now Trudeau, 28, is majoring in polit­ical sci­ence at North­eastern Uni­ver­sity through the fed­eral government’s Yellow Ribbon Pro­gram, working to tran­si­tion from a mil­i­tary career into one in secu­rity studies and diplomacy.

And he’s well on track to do just that. Trudeau starts a co-​​op next month as a research assis­tant for Northeastern’s George J. Kostas Research Insti­tute for Home­land Secu­rity. In May, he trav­eled to Chicago for the Young Atlanti­cist Summit, where his lead­er­ship role with Northeastern’s Model NATO del­e­ga­tion netted him an exclu­sive oppor­tu­nity to attend talks and mingle with the likes of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Sec­re­tary of State Made­line Albright.

“It was an excel­lent edu­ca­tional oppor­tu­nity for me,” Trudeau said of the con­fer­ence, which gave stu­dents throughout the nation a chance to learn about the Atlantic Council, a Wash­ington, D.C.-based think tank that pro­motes U.S. engage­ment in inter­na­tional affairs. “I got an excel­lent per­spec­tive of what these top leaders were thinking.”

One key issue dis­cussed at the con­fer­ence — which was sched­uled to coin­cide with a NATO Summit in Chicago — was America’s shift in for­eign policy from Europe to Asia.

Albright addressed the topic in detail. “She said that while our focus may be shifting, our atten­tions to Europe won’t go away,” Trudeau explained. “She also stressed that America’s strategic poli­cies should look into the future about 15 or 20 years, not just aim to be quick fixes.”

Trudeau is pres­i­dent of Northeastern’s Stu­dent Vet­erans Orga­ni­za­tion, which aims to improve col­lege life for stu­dents who have served in the mil­i­tary. The orga­ni­za­tion focuses on issues such as finan­cial aid, housing and academics.

Trudeau said his expe­ri­ence with the Young Atlanti­cist Pro­gram would inform his role with Northeastern’s Model NATO pro­gram, which took top honors at a con­fer­ence held in Wash­ington ear­lier this year. Next year, the group will rep­re­sent Italy and Latvia in competitions.

“We’re already so focused on the issues facing NATO, so to get an expe­ri­ence like this, it will only strengthen what we’re already doing,” he said.

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